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My name is Matt MacDonald, I moved to Watertown, MA in the spring of 2010. I blog here, muck with municipal data at http://www.nearbyfyi.com and work at http://www.prx.orgI’m interested in learning more about how our world works. I love data, I write software and tools to help explain and visualize that data and I enjoy sharing what I find with others.
If a picture can speak a 1,000 words data visualization can speak 1,000,000. I think visualizations of data can help explain very complex topics and data does not lie.
Category Archives: Municipalities
What if adding more money to our school budget doesn’t help our children as much as we hope?
Someone questioned why I posted an article from The Onion in the Watertown Residents for Strong Schools Facebook group. Thought it might be useful to cross post it here. Hi, I was hoping that posting the satirical article from The … Continue reading
Posted in Budget, Government, Municipalities, Schools, Watertown
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He Said, She Said – Extracting data from 5 years of Watertown Town Council meetings
Hi, I think I found a way to to raise the visibility of some pretty boring civic data and present it to the public in a more useful manner. Like most cities and town Watertown, MA keeps detailed meeting minutes … Continue reading
Posted in Hacks, hackwatertown, Municipalities, OpenGov, Watertown
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Mapping the location of building permit submissions in Watertown, MA
Hi, I’m trying weekly to identify and hack on data that is published in the Watertown, MA document center in order to provide it in a manner that people might find more useful than a PDF, Excel or PowerPoint presentation. … Continue reading
Posted in Government, Hacks, Municipalities, OpenGov, Software, Watertown
3 Comments
Series: How to replace your city or town website and improve it for free
This is the first in a series of posts that will evaluate the Watertown, MA website, platforms like CivicPlus and offer suggestions for methods to improve online services and reduce costs for citizens. Union contracts, local government budgets, school district shortfalls, … Continue reading
Posted in Municipalities
3 Comments
How to get twitter alerts from your city or town
Hi, I wanted to solve a problem that I saw with how the town of Watertown, MA shares alerts with the public. Watertown uses a website tool called CivicPlus to manage their online presence. The tool has an alert system … Continue reading
Posted in Municipalities, OpenGov, Watertown
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API access questions for Tyler Technologies creator of MUNIS
Below is an email that I wrote to TylerTech in early July. Summer is nearly over so it’s time to pick back up on this. UPDATE: I heard back a few days after I posted this and the official response … Continue reading
Posted in Government, MUNI, Municipalities, Software
2 Comments
Reaching out to Matrix Consulting Group about the Watertown, MA Public Safety Study
Dear Richard Brady and Robin Haley, My name is Matt MacDonald a resident of Watertown, MA, a town that has contracted services from Matrix Consulting Group to perform a Public Safety Study. I wanted to introduce myself with the intent … Continue reading
Posted in Fire, Municipalities, Police, Watertown
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Summary of my conversation with Police Chief Deveau and Fire Chief Orangio of Watertown, MA
Hi – below is a summary email that I sent to Chief Deveau and Chief Orangio from our conversation this morning. Hi Chief Deveau and Chief Orangio, Thank you for taking the time today to meet with me. It was … Continue reading
Posted in Fire, FOIA, Government, Municipalities, Police, Watertown
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Preparing for a meeting with Watertown, MA Police and Fire department Chiefs
Hi, Below is an email that I sent to the Watertown, MA Police and Fire Chiefs to continue discussing how to satisfy the crime and fire incident data Freedom of Information Request that I filed nearly 3 months ago. Hi … Continue reading
Posted in Fire, FOIA, Government, Municipalities, Police, Watertown
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I support our teachers – I don’t support the Teacher Contract
Hi, Below is an email response I recieved from Debra King the president of the Watertown Educators Association when I asked her to respond to my blog post about the meeting they are holding next week. The concept of giving … Continue reading
Posted in Budget, Government, Municipalities, Schools, Watertown
1 Comment